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FRAMINGHAM, MA – JULY 26, 2006 – IDC's CMO Advisory Practice today announced that Autodesk and Avaya are the recipients of IDC's CMO Advisory Best Practices Award for New Product Launch Processes. IDC has published detailed case studies for Autodesk and Avaya, outlining the processes used to launch new products in coordination with a global, multifunctional team, including tracking launch performance to measure efficiency and effectiveness. Winners were selected by the CMO Advisory research team based on marketing performance effectiveness analysis from the IDC Tech Marketing Benchmarks Database, and from nominations submitted by technology marketing vendors across the IT industry.

"The new product launch process is an area where process 'memory-loss' can lead to inefficiencies over periodic launch cycles. A well-executed launch not only efficiently leverages marketing's resources, but more importantly, it optimizes the potential for a new product or solution to achieve differentiation; a must in today's highly competitive market," said Michael Gerard, research director of IDC's CMO Advisory Practice. "Autodesk and Avaya have demonstrated the systematic application of processes that vendors across the tech marketing community should consider adopting."

The winning entry from San Rafael, California-based Autodesk, Inc. ( www.autodesk.com ), provides an in-depth analysis of how Autodesk consolidated all of its 25-30 new product launches into the execution of one unified company launch across the globe on one single date. This strategy, enabled by a standardized launch process and a global virtual team, provides Autodesk with a more efficient launch cycle coupled with greater effectiveness in market awareness and subsequent demand generation. "The scalable, global launch process we've developed ensures the timely delivery of effective marketing materials to our offices and channel partners around the world while presenting a unified brand," said Bill O'Connor, Autodesk's Global Launch Co-Manager based in the US. "In addition, the process improves operational productivity, enabling us to jumpstart the sales cycle by getting materials out to the sales force as quickly as possible," said Goeran Boerjesson, the company's Global Launch Co-Manager based in Europe.

The winning entry from Basking Ridge, New Jersey-based Avaya, Inc. ( www.avaya.com ), provides an in-depth analysis of how Avaya's marketing team has driven innovation into an existing new product launch process. Their process includes a staged development cycle which transitions from strategy development to execution, including collaboration and coordination across multiple functions and geographies. "We have developed a Responsible/Accountable/ Consulted/Informed (RACI) format to guide the execution of our launch process. This clarifies the roles and responsibilities of the team, improves efficiency and effectiveness of implementation, and better aligns our launches with the needs of the market," said Sharon Troisi, Avaya's Global Launch Manager. "As a result of the improved launch process, the team has been able to increase pull-through for demand generation and enhance brand awareness."

These case studies are the focus of a new IDC report, CMO Advisory Best Practice Series: New Product Launch Processes at Autodesk and Avaya (IDC #202467). The CMO Advisory Practice provides marketing executives and their operations counterparts critical insights and fact-based information to plan program and people investments, prepare marketing operations, launch initiatives, and measure results. The CMO Advisory Best Practices awards are designed to help technology marketing executives more effectively deploy their marketing programs by providing insights from the successful practices of their peers.

IDC's Executive Advisory Group provides sales and marketing executives with critical insights and fact-based information to plan investments, prepare operations, mobilize resources, and measure results. Members access the collective insights of thought leaders and rigorous research that addresses top issues.

For more information, contact Louise Revers at 508-988-6915 or lrevers@idc.com.

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